It's 1929 as The Jazz Singer hits the silver screen and the talkies promise to change movies forever. Enter three down-and-out vaudevillians who hatch a hare-brained scheme to make it big in Tinsel Town. Their plan? To open a voice academy for the witless stars of silent movies. The only things standing in their way are ditzy starlets and power-hungry movie moguls.
Starring Ed Asner and directed by Moss Hart's son, this is top-of-the-bill screwball comedy and Kaufman and Hart genius at its very best.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring (in alphabetical order) Caroline Aaron as Helen Hobart/Miss Chasen; Edward Asner as Herman Glogauer; Jen Dede as Susan Walker; Jeanie Hackett as Mrs. Walker/Miss Leighton; David Kaufman as George Lewis; Katharine Leonard as Florabel Leigh/Bridesmaid #2; Joe Liss as The Porter/Ernest/Mr. Flick/Weisskopf/The Bishop; Kellie Matteson as Phyllis Fontaine/Bridesmaid #1; Jon Matthews as Rudolph Kammerling/Fontaine Chauffer/Leading Man; Sarah Rafferty as May Daniels; Jonathan Silverman as Jerry Hyland; Steve Vinovich as Lawrence Vail/Leigh Chauffer/ Meterstein. Directed by Christopher Hart. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, in October 2009.
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"Hoping that this story will get better once we actually bring it to life in theatre, but for now it was just an alright story." — Jen (4 out of 5 stars)
"Hoping that this story will get better once we actually bring it to life in theatre, but for now it was just an alright story."
" To be honest, this is a strange but fast moving play. It has a huge cast and we saw it on the Olivier Stage at the National Theatre, London. It has rather dated dialogue but accurately portrays the story it tells. "
Moss Hart (1904–1961) began his career as a playwright in 1925 and achieved his first major success in the 1930 collaboration with George S. Kaufman titled Once in a Lifetime. With Kaufman he also wrote such American classics as The Man Who Came to Dinner and You Can’t Take It with You, winner of the 1937 Pulitzer Prize. Hart also gained universal recognition for his award-winning direction of many shows, including My Fair Lady and Camelot.
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